Saturday, September 6, 2008

Saturday Afternoon Procrastination Roundup

So, does anyone else out there wonder why Hillary Clinton is "Hillary," but Sarah Palin is "Palin"? It's starting to sound like Goldilocks' dilemma: one is too "intimidating" (read: competent, per Judith Warner's "The Mirrored Ceiling" in the NYT the other day) and the other one needs not to sound quite as hockey mom-ish....

But back to food....

I just ate a simple but wonderful concoction that I'm a little embarrassed to post about, because it's such a no-brainer. But it was good. Quinoa, a handful of arugula chopped, some basil leaves chopped, half a tomato, and a glug of Newman's Italian dressing (yeah, I'm lazy. But it's humid and I'm technically hard at work under a couple of looming deadlines).

And last night, I made a frittata. It was good, but what made it noteworthy was that except for the eggs, the main ingredients all came from leftovers I brought home from the department party the other night. Spot the grad student!

Bewildering is right! I think I'd rather gaze upon Rachel Ray, and that's saying a lot!

The point about distinguishing Hillary from Bill is valid, but I do think there's more behind it than that--I think the familiarity of using her first name rather destabilized the seriousness of her campaign--which, as a woman candidate, was something she could ill afford. A male candidate in the same circumstances could actually benefit, if using his first name made him seem more a man of the people...but "Barak" doesn't really do that work in the way that, say, "Joe" would....

I'm remembering when Arturo Whosiwhatsis was running for (I think) DC delegate to the House of Representatives, and the city was plastered with enigmatic signs that simply read "ARTURO!" Talk about destabilizing the seriousness of your campaign.

I believe that the "Hillary" usage wasn't just commentators, though. Her own campaign signs, etc., often used just the first name. (I have a vague memory of an "On the Media" radio segment about this issue that was rather thought-provoking.) On a related note (re: approaches to women candidates), if you haven't seen the Daily Show "hypocrisy" clip yet, it is -awesome-: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMiUAcEJY98

I think there's affection in it as much as anything. Opera people talk about Luciano and Kiri and Jessye, you know? And it seems that Alaskans interviewed in the press do call the VPNSPWFRPUELF* Sarah.

I think Hillary Clinton encouraged the use of her first name to try to soften up her image. If her bumper stickers had said CLINTON in all caps in a stern blocky font, it would have conveyed a very different message.

*That's "Vice-Presidential Nominee that Some People Would, For Reasons Passing Understanding, Evidently Like to Fuck."